Locked Away
by AlerisAngel
Summary: The Nuzlocke challenge is one of the most common challenges undertaken by players in Pokemon games. But what happens if the permadeath stipulation enters the Pokemon world, not as a rule, but as a reality? I do not own any material except maybe the characters.
1. Johto I

**I. Johto I**

 _The world of Pokemon. Born out of one being who created the universe with one thousand arms, before creating beings to take his own work. Time. Space. Antimatter. Beings who created the continents. Beings who created humans, beings who created Pokemon. The Ancestor Pokemon. Banished Pokemon. All was born long ago._

 _Many an eon passed with nary a breeze, a flame that flickers once before being extinguished. Such is the way of time, and everything will one day be lost to it. Such events are also lost to history, with only the victors retelling their spoils._

 _Many more eons passed, and humans became the dominant species. The one with one thousand arms simply watched as his creations became pets, slaves, warriors, and more to this new race. And from humans, came things the one with one thousand arms could not dream of. Technology was created, cities rose and fell, and the world began anew._

 _Years passed, and humans discovered the capacity for greed, violence, and evil within them. Unlike most of the Pokemon the one with one thousand arms had created, humans could choose evil. Some did. Wars were fought, and Pokemon slowly became nothing more than beasts._

 _Some would say the one with one thousand arms left in disgrace to start anew, but it would not leave its creations. It held responsibility for them - especially the banished one. But time marched onwards, and wars began to settle. The world entered peace, only to be thrust back out of it by one who had chosen evil. This is a process that would repeat for all of eternity._

 _Eventually, society rose to how it is known at present time. The world was cordoned off into regions, and each region elected a Champion - the strongest trainer in the land, who vowed to protect the region until death or defeat by one who wished to take the mantle. The one with one thousand arms watched as his creations bonded with humans, lending their strength, and once the Poke Ball was invented, watched as they were taken by force._

 _All of this, and simply he watched._

 _Many more years passed, and the one with one thousand arms grew weak. At the end of his life, he took on a new form - Arceus. However, with a new form came the loss of some previous powers. Yet the one with one thousand arms, for the next many moons to be known as Arceus, simply returned to watch._

 _Eventually, humankind learned about the legendary Pokemon - the divine creations of the one with one thousand arms. Contact was made, but capture never was. Arceus ensured of that, as his divine creations were needed to keep balance in this world he created._

 _As humans had become predictable to him, Arceus was unsurprised when humans sought to use his divine creations for evil. He was equally unsurprised when other humans sought to stop them. Indeed, Arceus need never act on this world again, and may simply sit back and watch, for it is the nature of humanity to right what is wrong and wrong what is right._

 _Eventually, another Pokemon appeared, vowing to spread chaos across the land, and Arceus simply watched. Many plans this Pokemon created failed, and it resigned itself to being a divine plaything like all the others._

 _Many more years passed, and another force began to spread. Pokemon had battled since the dawn of time, yet now, something more sinister was beginning to come into play. A Pokemon in the hands of certain humans began to slip into a coma upon being defeated. At first, it was just one human. Then more, many more. Eventually, the human word Pandemic began to be used._

 _Arceus marvelled at how humanity approached this. Some regions began to have tighter security, some did nothing. Some of those who became touched with this force gave up their Pokemon, others treated it as nothing more than a cruel game, challenging themselves to pass the Champion's rites with as few casualties as possible. Others still steeled themselves for other reasons._

 _As the world moved to attempt to solve itself, Arceus simply watched. He had outlived an endless amount of humans and Pokemon, he cared little for more lives joining his old form._

 _This is a story of consequences, of the one with one thousand arms doing evil by no fault of his own. This is a story of good and evil, of humans and Pokemon. Just like all the others. Arceus, the one who had one thousand arms, may be the only one to know them all. He is the divine spectator, existing simply to watch his creations dance for him over the course of all eternity._

…

Cherrygrove City was a peaceful one, small and nestled at the southern end of the Johto region. Its location made it a prime spot for trainers, however, being the first major cityscape travelling from Kanto to Johto. And that's exactly why Ben was here. Leaning back against the wall of a building, he quietly pushed his black hair out of his face as he studied the surrounding area, looking for trainers to challenge to a battle. Not that he cared who too much who, as the one he really wanted was gone. But he still wanted to fight and gain strength, which had led him across all of Johto many a time. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to lapse into a state of daydreaming once again.

A mountain of ice, the dividing peak between Kanto and Johto. Ben climbed it, Pokemon at his side, as they shivered together in the cold. This was it, the last step. Proof that he wasn't a failure. Proof that he could battle with the best of them. Looking around, he spotted his target. A man not much older than he was, perhaps just entering his 20s, stood facing him. Ben stared for a while, figuring out what he looked like, replaying the situation in his head over and over, creating the perfect vessel to battle against. Wordlessly, he pulled out a Poke Ball, and Ben did the same.

And then he vanished. Someone else had fought him first, and he simply disappeared.

Ben snapped out of his reverie, ending in the same way it had for several months now. The knowledge that the legendary man on the mountain had been challenged by someone else, and defeated, had shattered him for a while. He'd even gone to Kanto and collected eight badges there, in the hopes of gaining access to Mount Silver so he could meet and challenge the man who had been in his dreams for so long. And now he couldn't, and still the dream kept replaying. It was torture for him. He'd thought his next dream was to find whoever stole his dream and beat them in a battle, but still his dreams remained fixated on that one scene. Now, he supposed, he just battled for the sake of having something to do besides sitting around feeling sorry for himself; he was facing the PokeMart for just that reason. Any trainer coming into buy items could be scrutinized by him, for their strength in battle or other reasons.

It was a long day, and fairly hot, but Ben persisted, and eventually he spotted someone unique. Not in that way, but she had an air of strength about her, and some of the most bizarre clothing he had ever seen. Her brown hair was long and tangled, coming down to the middle of her back, and she wore a brown hooded cloak that was tattered and torn, not to mention dirty. Despite looking like a young adult, she carried a walking cane, and if Ben didn't know better, he'd say she walked right out of a forest to buy supplies at a PokeMart. This piqued his interest. Every trainer worth anything was equipped for a journey, but she looked like she'd been out of civilization for months or even years - her Pokemon would have to be strong to handle that. That settled it for him, and he patiently waited for her to exit the shop.

After a few minutes, she returned and he walked up to her. He'd done this so many times by now, constantly searching for strength.

"Hey, you're a trainer, right?" He asked. He'd expected the usual enthusiastic response, but instead got nothing. She'd simply walked past him like he wasn't there. _How rude. I just want a battle…_

"Hey, excuse me…" Ben continued. He'd set his sights and now he was determined to battle her. She kept walking, either oblivious or just uninterested, but he followed and persisted. "Hey! I'm right here!"

She stopped this time after he yelled. "I'm not interested."

 _What? She's a trainer, she has to be. Does she think it's something else?_ Ben thought, then realized the implications of his actions. "No, no, it's nothing like that, I just want a battle. You're a trainer, right?"

She kept walking, ignoring the question again. Now Ben was getting frustrated. It was one thing to get confused and refuse something else, that had happened before, but to just ignore him? That was a new low to him. He ran after her, shouting loudly now. "Hey! I want to battle to you!"

As Ben kept running, the girl suddenly stopped and turned around, cane raised and pointed directly at Ben. He skidded to a stop and studied her. She was somewhat shorter than him, but at least five years older, he'd guess. She had amber eyes, which were now angrily staring directly into his own, and her cane was topped with a purple orb. It was quite unsettling, really, but he'd come this far.

"I told you." She said bluntly, devoid of anger despite her expression. "I'm not interested."

 _Oh, but you made your mistake here._ Ben smirked. One of the first rules of being a trainer had just been triggered. "Well, unfortunately for you, eye contact was made between two trainers. Remember what that means?"

Her expression flickered for just a moment. She held her position for several long seconds, and her breathing became heavy. Very slowly, she lowered her cane. "Fine. Let us get this over with."

It took everything in him to stop from smiling. She walked to the beach and stood on the north end, and Ben took a space a few metres away. Were he the more dramatic type, he'd have Pidgeot whip up a slight gust to highlight this moment. It had always been his favourite, the start of a battle, when two trainers size up each other. She closed her eyes, raised one of her hands to her heart, and gripped her cane tightly. This was a weird one, alright. Ben took off his hat briefly, ran a hand through his hair, and put it back on. Then, his hand drifted towards his necklace. A small charm in the shape of a Poke Ball, it had been given to him long ago. He grasped the charm and then chose a Poke Ball with his other hand. "Meganium, it's your turn!"

He threw the Poke Ball high, and out popped Meganium. The Sauropod was very tall, towering over the both of them. He had a green body with a Pink Flower around his neck, and two yellow antennae on his head. He turned around to look at Ben, who gestured to the girl. Meganium turned around and roared a battle cry, and trainer and Pokemon steeled themselves.

The girl stared at Meganium, making no move to summon a Pokemon of her own. After a tantalizingly long minute, she drew a Poke Ball - an older model, Ben noticed. She stared at it, closed her eyes, and shifted the Purple Orb off of her cane into her hand. She then placed the Poke Ball on top of it, before launching the cane into the air briefly. As she re-caught it, an orange Pokemon popped out. It was much, much smaller than Meganium, and clearly meant for this environment. The first thing Ben noticed was a massive orange claw, before he saw a second, smaller one accompanying it.

 _Kingler. Strange choice to fight my Meganium._ Ben thought to himself. He looked at the claws again, and noticed that unlike most Kingler, this one was holding the larger claw off the ground with no issue - a sign of strength. Before he could choose a move, the girl acted first.

"Kingler. Guillotine." She said it with no emotion, as though she was going through a set of motions. Kingler, on the other hand, instantly launched itself off the sand, opening its smaller pincer and aiming for Meganium's exposed neck. Ben was taken aback by the choice of move, as it was very prone to missing. Did she really want this over that quickly?

Ben waited for Kingler to come close before making his command.

"Meganium! Lean back and go for Body Slam!" It wasn't the best choice, but given how fast that Kingler had moved, he hadn't been able to come up with something better. Meganium reared up, and Kingler crashed harmlessly into the sand below. Meganium began to fall back onto it… only for Kingler's larger, free pincer to slam into Meganium's underbelly. Meganium, already in a vulnerable position, was knocked unbalanced by the blow, and Ben had to take a few steps back to make sure he didn't end up on the receiving end of a Body Slam himself.

Kingler and its trainer stared at them, awaiting their move. Ben was taken aback by how strong and fast the Kingler was - it was clearly exceptionally well trained. He couldn't even figure out what attack it was that had sent Meganium flying. He needed to keep himself on the field long enough to figure out something that'd work.

"Meganium, let's try a Reflect!" Meganium obeyed, and and a wall of purple light came into being, then another, and another, creating a cube that would soften blows for a while. Meganium looked back at Ben, awaiting a follow-up command.

"Kingler. Brick Break." The girl called out, and Kingler charged across the sand, large pincer glowing. Ben panicked, and Meganium, waiting for a response, took the full force of the hit, the purple barrier shattering instantly and Meganium staggered, but did not fall. Kingler leaped into the air, and landed back where it started. _So that didn't work. What about going for a grass move?_

"Meganium, let's use Razor Leaf!" Meganium stood up straight and shook itself, and leaves appeared from the flower. Meganium roared, and the leaves shot themselves at and around Kingler, hitting the ground and spraying up sand while some hit their mark. Kingler went flying and landed on its back, before quickly righting itself. The girl had leaned into her cane, holding the purple orb like a second Poke Ball before seeing Kingler still standing. Kingler waved its pincer up and down and the girl's expression shifted slightly.

"Kingler. Iron Defence." Ben was shocked, as that was a move that Kingler could not learn without the aid of another person. Kingler glowed silver, before standing up straight and snapping its claws menacingly. Ben briefly considered his options, before deciding to change his lane of attack. If Kingler had just raised its physical defence, a special attack was needed. Thankfully, he had one.

"Meganium! Let's give it an Energy Ball!" Meganium roared, and his flower glowed again. A green sphere appeared in his mouth, which he quickly launched towards Kingler. Kingler dodged to the left, and Meganium fired another one. Kingler dodged to the right, weaving through the razor leaves that Meganium's last attack had left there. Meganium continued to fire, eventually leading his shots, and connected with the ground in front of Kingler, sending the crab Pokemon flying. Meganium charged up another Energy Ball and launched it, both trainer and Pokemon sure that this would be the end of it…

And Ben bent over coughing as a purple haze surrounded him. _What was this? Did she have two Pokemon? Did someone else attack me? What's going on?_

Meganium's cry shocked Ben to his senses, and he quickly called out Pidgeot to dispel the smoke. One it cleared, he saw some nothing but some shattered glass in the sand, and pieced it together. The girl had used a Smoke Ball to distract both of them, recall Kingler, and flee. This frustrated Ben more than trying to initiate a fight with her did, as now he was robbed of an ending, and running from a trainer battle was a cardinal sin in his book.

"That does it. I'm going to find you, whoever you are, and we are going to battle. Nobody's that strong without good reason." Ben decided, staring at the exit to the town. He thanked both his Pokemon before returning them, and closed his eyes.

The mountain and the man on top of it still haunted him, but now with the man it was the girl there. For the time being, this would do. He wasn't even sure who she was, and just wanted a proper battle with her. If she was that strong with just one Pokemon, he couldn't even begin to imagine her full team. Head filled with ideas for battle, he walked off to go ask around, looking for anyone who might know more about his next challenge.

 **Notes:**

Hi everyone! This is my first story on this site (duh), and one of my first real long-form projects. I'm excited to actually publish this first chapter, and I hope you all enjoy. This is a concept I've always found interesting and have actually never seen anyone write about, so I took it into my own hands to come up with an in-universe story about nuzlockes. Hopefully it's not too bad?

I'm gonna aim to write a chapter every two weeks, I have the entire thing storyboarded so it shouldn't be too hard.

Lastly, I do apologize for not accenting the e in Pokemon for those of you that it annoys - this computer isn't mine and doesn't seem to have a way to accent the Es that I can find ~.

Enjoy!


	2. Sinnoh I

"The Zuneckol Pandemic has become one of the fastest diseases in recorded history." Came the voice of a woman with pink hair and a black top, sitting behind a desk. "Estimates by the top scientists around the world are currently stating that roughly thirty percent of all people worldwide are afflicted, and the death toll is estimated to be several thousand already."

A hand reached out, pale, with clear nail polish and a basic silver bracelet. In that hand was a remote, which paused the broadcast. The channel changed, and instead of the woman's Kalosian accent came the much harsher accent of those native to the Hoenn region. She knew it would be the same information, but maybe something would click if she watched these broadcasts for what had to be the tenth time by now.

"As the Pandemic spreads to nearly three-tenths of all people, here are some facts you need to know about travel in the Hoenn region and what you can do to help." Said the man in a somewhat run-down studio. Hoenn wasn't her first choice for information, but any port in a storm.

"Scientists have determined that the chances of becoming afflicted decrease severely in people who are already trainers with strong connections to their Pokemon. It seems to primarily be seen in new trainers, regardless of age. There is no cure, currently, but areas such as Mt. Chimney and the Granite Cave are currently off-limits to anyone, and…"

The hand reached to switch off the TV. The owner of the hand briefly stared at her reflection in it, and it wasn't pretty. She was very pale, with dark circles under her blue eyes and her black hair was looking a little ratty. How long had it been since she washed it? She was still wearing her white lab coat, which was at least unbuttoned, revealing her black shirt underneath. Right. She went out to try and conduct fieldwork… yesterday? That sounded right. When was the last time she slept?

The woman barely flinched as a light weight landed on top of her head. In the reflection, she could see the black head and long feeler staring back at her, with the wings that looked like stained glass perpendicular to its body. Jileya snapped out of her reverie.

"Hello, Beautifly." She said softly. Beautifly hummed a response. Jileya smiled a bit. She could count on her Pokemon to take care of her, even when she couldn't. "Have Infernape and Bibarel gone to sleep already?"

The Butterfly Pokemon seemed to nod, or at least bobbed up and down on her head. So it was late, that much she knew. Jileya looked to her lap and saw a computer with shockingly little sitting there. _So little facts,_ she thought before she closed it. _So little facts, so many lives. So much I have to try and do._

Jileya stood up and recounted what she knew in her head. Pokemon commanded by certain trainers, upon running out of Hit Points, instead of simply fainting entered some form of comatose state from which nothing, not even the most powerful of Pokemon Centres, was capable of reviving them from. Somehow, should an afflicted Trainer "black out", they would simply die. It was common among newer trainers, but startlingly rare for an experienced trainer to suddenly become afflicted. And it already affected many people, leaving paranoia to set in amongst everyone. She'd spent the last few days running checks on trainers and her own Pokemon - she would hardly call herself an experienced trainer. She detested this, but in lieu of actual information she was doing what she could, even if it meant sacrificing a lot of Magikarp needlessly. That part she hated, but science could be cruel, and this disease, whatever it is, was crueler.

Perhaps even more distressing than that was that the few afflicted trainers she had come across watching the path that led to Sandgem Town rarely wanted to be researched. Most were occupied with their journey, not really understanding the danger they were in - they were usually kids, after all - but some of the older ones even seemed to treat it like a challenge. She'd even heard some people discussing it on her way back, who had the least "deaths" racked up so far, like their lives were nothing more than playthings. Jileya privately wondered how many of those people would live to see the next month.

She turned and placed her computer back on the work desk that faced out of the window of her apartment, overlooking the main street of Jubilife City. It had been quite a steal, really, close enough to Professor Rowan's laboratory for her to stop by and help him out when he needed, and not small. In fact, it felt a little big for her at times when it was just her, so she'd taken to keeping her Pokemon out of their Poke Balls for the past few years.

 _If only_ someone _had bothered to stay here…_

She pulled herself back out of her reverie before it started, working mechanically now. Beautifly remained on her head, and hummed in surprise when Jileya went to her bookcase and pulled down a red book from the top shelf. It was a book of in-depth research on concoctions from pokemon status moves, which had remained untouched for several long years now, a leftover from a different time when her dreams were just ever-so-slightly different.

"I doubt there will be anything in here," She mumbled, talking to both herself and the Pokemon perched atop her head, "but I'm at my wit's end right now. There's only so much battling I can take, even if it's just knocking out Magikarp over and over. I need to do something productive."

Several hours of poring through it later, she slammed the book shut in a huff, finding nothing. It wasn't mental, but there didn't appear to be any physical symptoms, did there? And nothing in the book even came close to the level of spread and potency whatever this was had. She, like the rest of the scientific world, was completely stumped. She put her head in her hands and practically felt the hope leave her again.

After a while, she sat up and wiped her eyes, blearily stumbling her way to bed. Tomorrow would be a different day, and she would put on her best face and try again, until she could figure out something that might be of help.

 **Notes:**

Well, this is something completely different. I wasn't sure if I wanted to follow the characters or the plot through, and I ended up choosing to follow the plot, which means a lot of jumping around, sadly. I don't think there's a particularly amazing way to do this, but never fear, Ben will be back soon. He actually gets the most chapters. This might be the last update for a bit, I start school in a few days and I have no idea how chaotic it's going to be. I'm still gonna try to get one out every week-ish, but it might be late.

Enjoy~


	3. Alola I

**III. Alola I**

"I'll be honest. I was hesitant to battle you, Rhia, given your condition, but you handled your Pokémon skillfully!" Cheered a dark-skinned woman in pink revealing clothing. "A little bit recklessly, but you definitely deserve this Rockium-Z."

The girl called Rhia opened her eyes as she felt a weight enter her palm, her reverie ending. "Oh. Thanks"

"If I could ask, why are you doing this?" The woman said. "You're afflicted, right?"

Afflicted. That word was nine letters of pure pain, once she had found out what it meant for her. That word nobody had bothered to tell her what it meant until it was too late, and she was four years older than she should be when a normal person would have started.

 _And one and a half years since my world ended…_

She swayed, trying to think of an answer that wouldn't make this woman (Olivia?) pity her, but also wouldn't make her seem heartless. Back and forth, back and forth. If she did this enough, she could almost feel her feet on the boats at home again.

"I need to go somewhere" she spoke at last. "And I cannot without enough Z-crystals, as per the laws of the region currently."

"Well, where do you need to go?" Olivia asked, her face clouded with concern. Rhia could already figure out the thoughts playing in the Island Kahuna's mind. She'd probably heard them all before, too. It was nice of those that were being sincere to care, and nice of those who faked it to give her some time to think about what her next plan was. She closed her eyes again, turning on her mental autopilot born from working in a shop since a young age.

She had six z-crystals now, and needed at least eight to get to her final destination. The Vast Poni Canyon was heralded as the last test for trainers, holding at least one trial and was the location of the last grand trial until several years ago. After this Zuneckol pandemic happened, Professor Kukui began cordoning off the region with trial gates and forced trainers to have a specific number of z-crystals to get past them.

 _So someone had to go on an adventure alone, and someone got lost, and now we're in this mess._ She thought spitefully. She didn't disagree with the move on principle, but it had forced her to actively fight her way to her goal as opposed to just going towards it, and what had once possibly been a daylong adventure was now approaching a year's worth of travel, and the longest time she'd ever spent away from the Seafolk.

 _And even longer from Lucia..._

"Well, I need to get back to the shop. Be careful!" Olivia called out, already retreating. Rhia waved, and breathed a sigh of relief to accompany her on her return journey. Olivia was at least kind enough to heal her Pokémon for her, so she didn't have to worry about impending death for the near future. At least she had all six of them this time…

Her thoughts consumed her until the sun began to set, lost in the planning that had become a necessity until it consumed the parts of her psyche that surrounded the Lucia-shaped gap in her, and spread out towards the rest of her life like a second disease. She turned towards the sunset, basking in the empty glow until the time was right.

"Dear Lucia," She narrated, pulling a postcard out of her purse and staring at the glossy image of her lost friend, forever smiling back at her in her lopsided way. Her platinum blonde hair that shifted to pink halfway down was being blown in a wind long since past, and even four years since writing couldn't dull the sparkle in her blue eyes. In her arms was a Basculin, a small green fish Pokémon with a blue stripe and threatening fangs. Rhia stopped, gathering her thoughts and planning what she would say. She'd done this twice before, now, but seeing her again still tore her up.

"Hi Lucy, it's me again. I just beat Olivia, so I guess I've caught up to this memory of you now. It's been ten months on the road for me now, so I've been making really good time. I've been asking everyone I've met if they remember you or have seen you, and some of them actually do. You must've left a really big impression here, or done something really bad. You better not have gotten yourself arrested, you hear? If I find out I've gone on this and had four Pokémon lose themselves for you just to find out you're in jail, I won't be happy, you hear me?"

"...nah, who am I kidding. I just want to see you again and know that you're alright. Your parents don't talk about you much anymore, so it's probably not that anyways." She smiled, a hollow grin full of wistfulness and longing. "I still wish something could've changed back then. I wish I could've gone with you, and maybe you would still be here today, instead of being somewhere deep in Poni island for two years. I just miss you and I wish we could be back in Seafolk village arguing over which Pokémon to design our boat after instead of me being out here, putting the lives of Pokémon at stake to figure out where you went.

I think that's all I have to say. I want to be back in town before dark, and I'm already pushing it, so I'll just send you home now." Indeed, the sun was barely in the sky anymore, and the wind was starting to pick up as Rhia raised her hand to the falling star and carefully let the postcard fly into the sea.

 _Dear Rhia,_

 _Hi! It's Lucia! Did you miss me as much as I miss you out here? Good news! I just got my Rockium-Z, which means I'm about halfway done with my trials, and then I can be a real Seafolk Shopkeeper! This also means I get to pick what Pokémon we design our boat after! (Pelipper. Totally.) Aaaaaanyways, I'm still travelling with Lillie and Hau, and they don't come close to you, but it beats being alone. We also ran into this weird kid called Gladion working with the local thugs. He seemed like he could use a hug or a lollipop or something, but he didn't seem like he was really with them, you know? He was just kinda there. Maybe he's a fanboy? Hau sure took an interest in him, anyways. We also tackled the Lush Jungle, and got attacked by a huge totem Lurantis. It was actually really scary, that bug was bigger than I was! Then we ran into this guy with these huge green glasses, I think his name was Faba? He offered us a tour of the Aether Foundation (that big floating building we've passed a lot on our way to sinnoh, remember? It turns out they actually do use Corsola to keep it afloat, apparently). But that's about all I can fit into a postcard, I have so much more to share with you once I come home! I wish you could see it with me, but at least you're safe, right?_

 _Take care,_

 _Lucia_

 _PS: I don't know when this will get to you, I caught a Wingull around here and told it to go find Seafolk village, but I don't know how good this one can fly yet. If you read this and you aren't Rhia, could you make sure it gets to her? Thank you!_

 **Notes:**

Yay, more characters! I promise this does come together eventually. Soonish, even. I'm still not used to longform so this kind of plays like a collection of short stories right now. Anyways, here's our first confirmed-to-be-afflicted character, Rhia. It's short for Rhiannon, but I ended up going with Rhia since Stevie Nicks sadly doesn't exist in this universe. Also, I can do és now, so anyone who's put off by that is safe now. This chapter took longer than usual to write, since the flashback portion wasn't in the original script for this chapter, but I wanted to flesh it out a bit more. The downside? I had zero notes on Lucia as a character. So I looked at what I didn't have - a hyperish, actually completely relaxed character, and went with that. It sorta worked? This chapter was a bit of a mess to write, honestly, especially Rhia's part, but the lack of clarity and weird sentence choices might make you feel as confused as she does. Maybe that's a bonus?

Enjoy!


	4. Unova I

**IV. Unova I**

 _DUEL TO THE DEATH: Trainer dies during a live-broadcasted TV Battle_

 _The Daily Watchog is keen to report on the death of actor and battler Michael Marana after an incident during yesterday's broadcast of the hit TV show 'Celebrity Battle Dome'. During the battle, Mr. Marana slowly lost the upper hand to fellow celebrity Miles Nitsuhi until one of his Pokémon fainted and did not get back up. Mr. Marana quickly recalled it and sent out his other Pokémon, which was also knocked out by Mr. Nitsuhi. Afterwards, Mr. Marana fell over and was declared dead on arrival of the hospital, where his death was attributed to the Zuneckol pandemic._

 _Mr. Manara was 14 at the time of his death. The Daily Watchog has learned through insider information that the Manara family plans on suing the TV studio for allowing him to battle in this condition. Pokéstar Studios was not available for an interview at this time._

 _Michael Manara first…_

Jay flipped the page. Another high-profile casualty and still nothing had been done. Even with the death toll in Unova alone reportedly reaching a thousand during the two weeks she'd been here, the government seemed very unconcerned by it. Surely they had been working on solving this? And with reports of Alder seemingly having left, it was only getting even worse.

She reached her hand to her cup and took a sip, bringing her back to the world around her. The sun was rising on what little of the sky she could see through the ever-expanding mess of buildings stretching out to the horizon. Castelia City certainly hadn't changed in the years it had been since she set out, and neither had its tabloids. She leafed through the remaining pieces of the paper, looking for the two things she always did whenever she ended up back here. Thankfully, this region's news and gossip still had shades of five years ago, and she located it rather quickly. The first was a picture of a kind-looking man with long green hair and a white shirt. She traced her finger along the outline of his hair absently and absorbed herself in the picture, even though she already had it to memory.

After all, she had taken the picture.

She pulled out her own version, which looked considerably better due to not being blown up well past its size as well as being framed to avoid water damage during her travels. He needed to be recognizable in portrait form, or she would have no hope whatsoever finding him again. And, while she'd never admit it, she did consider it the closest thing she had to human contact while she was away from towns, exploring wherever she could to find anything resembling a clue.

There's a reason she hadn't been back in Castelia City for nearly five years.

Perhaps it was dumb of her to leave for so long and let everything change at home, but the chances of him being here, where he was still very wanted, were much smaller than the chances of him escaping to, say, Hoenn or something. And she still hadn't tackled _that_.

 _I started with the safest regions and worked my way out to the most lawless, when maybe I should have done the reverse… What if I did the other? Could I have cut out a few years?_

She took another sip of her coffee, trying to pull herself out of the train of thought she'd bought so many tickets on. Yes, she _could_ have gone to Hoenn first, or even Sinnoh, but she had very valid reasons to do what she did. But traveling through Kalos and Alola for the past five years had proven very fruitless, and she was running out of options. Maybe she would change out her ferry ticket for one to Sinnoh and get it over with. She'd probably be an adult by the time she got back, too, so she could finish up what she needed to and move on.

Speaking of moving on, it was about time she flipped this page. There was still one more thing she needed to check, although it could very realistically have been gone in five years. How long did it take to shoot a movie, anyways?

 _It's Finally here! PLASMA, movie based on a true story five years in the making, debuts next week_

 _After a Five-year wait since the events the film is based on, PLASMA, starring Bill McAtke in the role of the hero Jasen opposite Mackenzie Maiyinaki as N, finally makes its debut next thursday, being a theatrical retelling of events five years ago, condensed into a two-hour film showing. The film ran into several snags during the course of filming, such as the disappearance of both Jasen and N leaving no reliable source for some of these events, but, according to Pokéstar Studios owner Stu Deeoh, had progressed at a "Marvelous" pace and is "A Work of art comparable to none"._

 _For those of you who need a refresher on the events of five years ago, The Daily Watchog managed to interview…_

Ah. That long. She folded the tabloid and tucked it into her bag, finished off her coffee, and cleared her table, satisfied with the answers she had gotten. Now she knew nobody had found N yet, so she had a reason to leave the region again. If she got to the Boat Terminal across town, she could even possibly exchange her ticket to Johto for one to Sinnoh and get looking in more lawless places. She might even have to fight gyms, if certain areas of the region were restricted to stronger trainers due to this pandemic. That might slow down her search by a few months or even a few years, but it was much better than nothing.

She tipped the bleary-eyed waitress behind the café and headed out into the street. She hadn't quite killed enough time to where there would be too many people in the roads here, but the chances of running afoul a gang were noticeably smaller now than they had been when she got up and walked to the café for breakfast before her boat departed.

 _Besides,_ she thought as she navigated through the labyrinth-like city, _I_ am _a Pokémon Trainer. I should be safe for such a short journey._

Not five minutes later, like some sort of cosmic joke, her path was roughly blocked by two large, burly men. She spun around to try and walk away only to find two more blocking her from behind. Instinctively, she backed her way against a wall so she could somewhat face all of them and pulled her pink and white hat even lower over her eyes. Her hand trailed to her purse and found a Poké Ball. The man she assumed was the leader - the largest and burliest of the four - spoke up.

"Now, Girly, there's no reason for that, eh? We just want to have a little fun, that's all." This was met with Guffaws and Jay struggled to keep her breathing in check. She fished out her Poké Ball, whoever was in it, and held onto it for support. This didn't go unnoticed by the men.

"Oh, what's that? You want that type of fun, Girly?" The man said condescendingly. "Well, I'd be happy to oblige you, but we shouldn't be around when the workday starts, eh?"

Jay held her Poké Ball close to her chest. She felt some of her confidence coming back as she formulated a plan. "Not a problem, I'll make this quick and painless. In fact…" She took a deep breath. "I'll take on all four of you right now at once."

The gang practically fell over laughing at her request, and took almost a minute to pick themselves back up. Jay used this time to actually check what Pokémon she had fished out, and breathed a sigh of relief. By some miracle, she'd picked her Pokémon that was the most capable of taking out four in one turn. If this gang was as skilled as the average Castelian street gang, this would be over in seconds. She turned back to the leader and began to idly play with her Poké Ball, staring him down through the brim of her hat.

"Well, maybe you'll be more entertainment than I had planned, eh?" The gang leader said. He gestured to his group and they sent out their Pokémon. Jay fought to contain a smile when she saw her opponents. Two brown caiman-like Pokémon with black stripes across their bodies snapped at her, while two yellow lizard-like Pokémon glared at her from the other side. Sandile and Scraggy, both certainly only at the level of being able to fight weak or inexperienced tainers.

"One more thing, though…" Jay said. "None of you have this pandemic that's going around? I wouldn't want anyone to die here" The group exchanged worried looks for a second, but soon went right back to menacing. The fact that they didn't leave was probably a good sign, and Jay simply dropped her Poké Ball to the ground. It opened with a blinding flash, and within seconds all four Pokémon were on the ground, defeated, and she was tucking her Poké Ball back into her bag. The gang had never known what hit them, and were too stunned to move as she picked up her pace and headed for her destination, far away from here.

 **Notes:**

Holy hell, this took way longer to write than an exposition-based chapter should have. I had no idea how I wanted to even present this to start with, especially the points I knew I needed to hit in this chapter. I also decided to re-storyboard the story to make more logical sense, so that delayed this further, but it's actually here and we're finally getting out of exposition hell. Maybe next time we'll go visit a character you guys already know instead.

The early part of this story is probably my least favourite due to basically being a bunch of unrelated short stories, but I do think they were important enough to actually do. Action happens soon, I promise!

Enjoy!


	5. Sinnoh II

**V. Sinnoh II**

Jileya groaned as she hauled a small plastic pool into place for her daily work, setting it down with a sigh. How many days in a row had she done this, now? She'd lost track, but faintly recalled starting this process in a winter coat. Working on autopilot again, she mechanically spread out the pool and called out her Pokémon. Beautifly fluttered her wings and made right for Jileya's head as she turned her attention to her other two Pokémon. The first was a medium-sized brown Pokémon with buck teeth and a black tail, which rubbed its eyes blearily before turning to look at her. Jileya, for her part, shifted her gaze to her other Pokémon, a white and brown Pokémon almost as tall as her with a fire coming out of its head that was doing its best to stifle a yawn. She wished they could all sleep some more, but there was preparation to be done. Hopefully, the extra minutes they got while she hauled her equipment out here without them would make up for it.

She sighed. The sun had just finished rising, and the most ambitious trainers would be out and about soon. Quickly, she took out a smaller bag from her purse and slid out the contents. She extended the fold-out fishing rod to its max length and handed it to Infernape, who wordlessly stalked off towards a nearby pond, hidden away in the thick forest that surrounded this route. Bibarel, meanwhile, had jumped into the pool and begun to fill it with water from his mouth as Jileya set up the plastic table she kept tucked behind some bushes in front of it, then excavating her journal, a clipboard with several pieces of paper, and some writing utensils. She found the poster board that she had initially decided was too cheesy before reconsidering it when people couldn't identify what she was doing and had Beautifly affix it to the front of her table with String Shot.

 _FREE ZUNECKOL TESTING - INQUIRE HERE!_

Recently, she'd gotten a fair amount more proactive in stopping younger trainers. This was route 202, after all, and with Professor Rowan's advancing age and his assistants being busy in the lab trying to combat this Pandemic, most new trainers had to venture to Sandgem Town to get their first Pokémon. And new trainers seemed to be the most at-risk, for some reason.

Since nobody had shown up yet, she flipped to a page at the back of her journal, a spread full of tally marks. She knew it by heart, but still she looked at the endless array of lines.

Seven hundred forty-two people had listened to her and been willing to see if they were afflicted or not.

Out of those, roughly two hundred had had their lives changed forever.

And thirty-two of those names she had recognized when the news reported their deaths due to the pandemic. Each of those names had felt like a knife digging into her when she saw them, and she always redoubled her efforts when it happened. Now, it had almost consumed her life, trying to save someone, or find people that would be willing to submit to more extensive testing. So far, she hadn't been successful in either.

Just then, her thoughts were interrupted by a splash, and she knew without looking that Bibarel had returned with the first of Magikarp that Infernape caught. Her plan involved large amounts of involvement from all four of them, and they all went home exhausted, but her Pokémon agreed every day, and she was incredibly grateful. She'd come up with this plan in part to draw newer, more at-risk trainers to her station with the promise of a free Pokémon, even if it was just a Magikarp. Infernape and Bibarel had to keep her pool stocked up, and then the trainers would capture the Magikarp and she would battle and defeat it. If the Magikarp turned Comatose, they were afflicted and she would ask them to write their name down and if they wanted to submit to further testing for research. Nearly everybody said no to that last one, for different reasons. Most people still wanted to go on a journey, some people gave up and went home, and the worst…

They were the ones she didn't think about. People who threw the lives of them and their Pokémon away for the name of a challenge or bragging rights. To her knowledge, none of those people had completed their foolish errand without quitting or dying.

Jileya composed herself. Now was not the time for anger, now was the time for hope and science. She could already see people in the distance, and was prepared for a long day.

The sun was high in the sky when it happened. Jileya and her Pokémon had just finished eating lunch when a group of about five trainers, aged within 10 and 14 by her guess. They didn't seem that close-knit, judging by the relative distance between them and the lack of conversation, but they did appear to be somewhat unified. Her eyes were drawn to the smallest and presumably youngest one in the back, who was cradling a blue, somewhat avian looking bundle in his arms. She guessed it was a Piplup, and had likely just started out. The other ones didn't seem much less inexperienced, which worried her. She directed to Beautifly, who leapt off her head and fluttered to stop the group.

"What's this?" The one that was leading the group said. Jileya would've pegged her around 12, slightly old to start her journey, but the changing times may have played a part in that. Based on the reactions of the group, none of them appeared to have seen a Beautifly before, and she soaked up the attention as she fluttered around them before slowly moving back to Jileya. The children followed her, entranced, until Beautifly alit on Jileya's head and most the children clamored around her excitedly. The two exceptions were the boy with the piplup and another boy with black hair that was scowling at her. She ignored him and walked straight to the boy with the Piplup, both of which were visibly shaking. Additionally, the piplup had purple spots on its face and appeared to be sweating, both signs of a bad poisoning.

"May I help your Piplup?" She asked. The boy nodded silently, so she continued, explaining it as she went. From her head, Beautifly flashed green briefly and blew a wave of green particles around her and Piplup. The safeguard would prevent it from getting any worse in the next few seconds. "Piplup has been badly poisoned by something, and its condition has worsened alarmingly quickly as a result. Any sort of physical exertion is especially taxing for a badly poisoned Pokémon, who lose health far faster than a normally poisoned Pokémon."

The group, minus the dark-haired boy, were following her quite raptly. She reached into her bag and pulled out a vial of what could be mistaken for Perfume. She had crafted this with a combination of several Pokémon attacks, which she had borrowed from a friend. She placed it under Piplup's head and twisted the top slightly. "Now, breathe in…" she directly instructed the Pokémon.

Piplup did so, and almost instantly began to relax, and its trainer followed suit. She stood up and decided to impart some knowledge before she continued on with her goal. "You can find Antidotes to cure the Poison in Poké Marts, and should always carry some of those on you, just in case. If you're in the wild, a Pecha or Lum berry will also work. Lastly, when in doubt, go to a Pokémon Centre as early as you can, if it's possible to make it there before your Pokémon faints. Newer model Pokédexes can also check the condition of your Pokémon to help you make an informed decision."

The children took this in, some of them pulling out their own Pokédexes to check its features. She was about to segue into her real task when a voice cut her off.

"It's fake." Said the boy with the black hair, looking disdainfully at the sign on her table.

"What?" Jileya was taken aback. "What do you mean, it's fake?"

"That disease you're pretending to test. My parents say it's fake and that the government's polluting the water to reduce the number of Pokémon trainers so they have less resistance." the boy sneered. "You're just trying to get as many of us tested positive. Too bad for you, I'm too smart to fall for it!"

Jileya sighed a little. Were this kid not at least six years younger than her, she would have several good responses already. Sadly, she had to be professional. "Well, you are free to leave. I am not going to force you to take the test, but I will advise it. You'll also miss out on a Pokémon…"

This was enough to convince everyone but the tinfoil hat kid to stay and listen to her. Satisfied, she went back to her planned explanation. "As you may have heard, the Zuneckol Pandemic has caused Pokémon to enter a comatose state upon fainting if they are caught by a trainer which carries it. Unfortunately, there isn't any reliable indicator of who has this without letting a Pokémon of theirs faint, so we're going to set up a controlled environment for this. Behind me I have a pool of Magikarp. One at a time, each of you will catch a Magikarp and battle my Beautifly. It will most likely get knocked out, but that's the point. If I check the Magikarp and it's fine, you are not afflicted and can keep the Magikarp. If it isn't fine, I'm going to ask you to write your name down and send the Magikarp to Professor Rowan for studying. What you do with this knowledge is up to you. Understood?"

The children nodded with varying levels of enthusiasm, and it went smoothly until just the boy with the Piplup was left. Beautifly jumped off her head excitedly again, and the battle begun. As it was an untrained Magikarp, it had no chance, and Beautifly knocked it out in one attack. But this was different than the other three, and it didn't even remotely bounce back up. The boy fell to his knees as Jileya rushed to the Pokémon to check its condition, even when she already knew the answer.

"I'm sorry…"

She'd said those words to so many people now, enough to realize how hollow they were coming from her. To them, she was a stranger and the bearer of bad news. She was just a person doing her job, informing people of something that probably didn't matter to her but would change their life forever.

 _If only they knew…_

Jileya was brought back to her senses by, of all things, laughter. She looked around, coming back, and saw she had moved mechanically, now holding a Poké Ball containing the poor Magikarp and saw that the boy with the Piplup was holding the clipboard. She looked around and saw the dark-haired boy from before, almost doubled over in laughter.

"Man, she had you all going there! Come on, do you really believe that just happened? You should have seen the looks on your faces!"

Jileya's expression turned almost murderous for a brief second before she composed herself and rounded on him. "If you do not believe in science, that is fine. But when lives are at stake, maybe learn some respect."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Jileya fighting hard to maintain her professionalism. Then, he jumped up and began walking backwards, sneering. "Well, if you want to believe this crap, that's fine, but you're wasting your time! Later!"

Slowly, the rest of the kids began to follow him, torn briefly before leaving, their lives unchanged. The boy with the Piplup, whose name she read off her clipboard as Luca Thomson, remained there, unmoving from where he was before. Jileya got another glimpse into human nature that day, and as always, it led her back down towards the paths of fighting and long nights and ambition and everything that came with it. This was the kind of thing she had turned to science for, and seeing it in children disgusted her.

But she still had a job to do.

She walked over towards Luca, who was looking at his Piplup intently. He looked even younger like this, and she already would have guessed him to be around half her age. She kneeled down and begin to talk, forcing more tenderness into her voice.

"There's no shame in this. Scientists all over the world are doing their best to figure this out."

He looked at her, and she saw that he'd been crying. Piplup moved closer to him, and he froze completely.

"You won't hurt Piplup by touching it. In fact, unless Piplup faints, you should be able to live a normal life with it."

"It hurts." He replied simply. So many meanings, and Jileya was briefly at a loss for what to say. Quickly, she composed herself, trying not to retreat into the facts again.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked. She'd never asked this to anyone before, as very few people stuck around after finding out. Those that did usually weren't interested in talking to her after the news she delivered. He gradually moved over to Piplup and picked it up again, just sitting there hugging it until he calmed down.

"I think I want to go home." Came the response after about a minute. By now, Infernape and Bibarel had returned; they had to be home early today. Instantly, Beautifly launched off of her head over to Luca. Jileya smiled softly, as her Pokémon were always capable of knowing what to do in a moment. Wordlessly, she handed the Poké Ball containing Luca's Magikarp to Beautifly, as had been done so many times knew that Poké Ball would end up in Professor Rowan's laboratory within half an hour.

"Beautifly can guide you home and protect you from wild Pokémon if you live in the area. How far away is home to you?" She inquired.

"Twinleaf Town."

Oh. The wound in her opened up again when he said that. There was every chance she knew this boy's parents, although they would have had to be in Twinleaf Town for a few years now. She turned to Beautifly, nodding.

"Beautifly definitely knows how to get there, and if you need to battle, tell her to use Signal Beam. And Beautifly, if I'm not home when you get back, the back window is open." Beautifly bobbed up and down in the air affirmatively and Luca nodded before standing up and heading home. She wondered how excited he'd been when he started his journey earlier that day, and what could have happened if he hadn't been afflicted, just like she did with every life she changed. Shifting over to autopilot, she, Bibarel, and Infernape began packing up for the next, and hopefully much better part of the day.

Carson walked through the wide streets of Jubilife City, lost in thought. It had been almost nine months since he'd been back here, and a lot of things had seemingly changed. The city was slightly larger than last time, most chain stores had gotten replaced with new chain stores selling the same things, and the Pokétch company building had once again been relocated further out of the main square. There seemed to be an abundance of people walking with their Pokégear out, talking or playing games or something else. More than once he had to swerve around entire groups of people and Pokémon, and he disliked all of it. But he was here for a reason, and he hadn't seen Jileya since he set out the last time.

The Pokétch on his wrist blinked with a message as he rounded a corner towards his favourite Café, a small establishment called Solace that seemed to survive in a commercial atmosphere off of being very homey. Having the best baked goods in the entire city helped matters as well, and it was one of two things that Carson came back to Jubilife City for.

Jileya saw him at the window and waved. She wasn't in their usual seat, which was taken up by an elderly couple, but it was close enough. She already had both their food ordered as Carson came in to sit down. His black hair was longer now, coming down past his shoulders, and his red jacket hung off him more loosely than before, but otherwise he hadn't changed. She wondered how much different she looked - she had actually bothered to do her hair for this, a rarity these days. She smiled when he sat down, and he did the same.

"So how's my favourite nomad these days?" She asked. Already she felt the coldness her day work gave her slipping away. He shook his head in mock annoyance at the nickname.

"Good. I've got 289 Pokémon fully registered in my Pokédex now, and I've seen an additional 74. Did you know there's a small pod of Wailmer and Wailord east of the Pal Park?" He said, visibly cheering up as he got into describing his travels. This was the Carson she looked forward to seeing every few months, and she held onto every word, just like old times. He'd been south of Sandgem town for the past few months, trying to document the Pokémon closer to home so there was a greater chance of Professor Rowan being able to see it when he found a Wailmer. He'd tailed the Wailmer back to the pod while surfing and had managed to add both it and Wailord to his Pokédex before releasing both of them to stay with the pod. This was very exciting, as outside of an even smaller pod north of Sunnyshore City that was struggling, Wailmer and Wailord had mostly vanished from Sinnoh. Eventually, Carson turned it around on Jileya, prodding her to talk about her experiences.

"Well, you know…" She hesitated. "I've done the exact same thing for close to a year. I set up shop on route 202 and try and test people for an affliction. I ruin a lot of lives that way, and people hate me, and even today I had this tinfoil hat kid telling me it was fake to my face and then insinuating that I was trying to trick them. And even when everything goes right, someone's usually still having their life changed forever. I hate it, but I know I'm doing the right thing."

Conversation briefly paused as they both dug into their meals, Carson seeming to ponder what to say while doing so. Jileya enjoyed the companionable silence, there was something almost ancient in its familiarity. After he swallowed, Carson spoke again.

"Have you ever thought about trying to solve this issue?" He asked. Jileya must have looked as incredulous as she felt, because he quickly added on "finding what's causing this. It has to be a Pokémon or something, right?"

"No, it's some sort of disease." She explained. She felt the old familiar feelings begin to bubble, as they always did around him. She'd estimated half an hour since he'd shown up, this was about par for the course. He looked skeptical.

"A disease that transmits through trainers, but affects Pokémon. Right." He snorted. "Remember the lake spirits? They're probably not causing this, but there are Pokémon out there capable of such a thing that we might not know about."

"Oh, I remember. But science can find the cause and solve this." She said. He laughed slightly and tried his best to stifle it. She glared at him outright this time.

"I think you've spent so much time cooped up studying that you've forgotten what Pokémon are capable of." His voice was slightly rising now, and she could tell that both of them were struggling to remain calm. This was all too familiar…

"No, I think you've spent so much time out in the wilderness that you've forgotten how the world works. You don't even have a Pokégear!" She cried, going after anything she could now. He flared up, and it was just like old times again.

"I don't need one! My Pokétch does just fine! Besides, I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking at a screen." He seethed.

"Are you serious?" She practically yelled. "Do you know how dumb that-"

She was interrupted by a cough, and she turned to look at the couple at their usual table, which were now staring at her. She turned bright red and bowed an apology before going back to sitting down, and stilted conversation resumed as they tried to bring themselves off of the argumentative high. Eventually, they were talking again as though it had never happened.

"So, about the Pokémon." Carson tentatively brought up. "I was thinking of heading to the Spear Pillar to see if those Pokémon we met up there are back and causing this."

Jileya was slightly taken aback by that. One one hand, he'd only just gotten here, and would probably leave as soon as possible, which would cut into their catch-up time. But on the other, he was offering to help her, and it would prevent them from going back into fighting for a few weeks.

"Would you really?" She asked, and he nodded. She thought of something too, to extend her own olive branch. "Maybe I'll go to Kalos and stay with Aria for a few weeks. According to her, there's a Pokémon that brings death every thousand years or so. I have my serious doubts, but it seems possibly worth a look?"

He smiled slightly, knowing what she was up to. He was doing the same thing, truthfully. It's just what they did. "Well, I guess that settles it. Gets you away from the Magikarp massacre too."

This brought a smile to her lips as well, and they continued their dinner normally. Eventually, they split the bill and went back to her house, where Carson would sleep in the extra bed. Tomorrow, he'd set out, and she'd travel in more or less the opposite direction, just like their lives had turned several years ago, before they crashed back together again.

 **Notes:**  
Welcome back to the next thrilling installment of Aleris-can't-figure-out-how-long-a-week-is! In this chapter, I remember we have plot and struggle to write it. It was originally much shorter, but I decided I wanted to expand on Jileya as a character a bit more so I went back to the drawing board. Other things that delayed this chapter included school and a several-day-long debate on how to describe a penguin to someone who has never seen one. But it's here, and it's actually long this time.

Fun fact: The number of Pokémon Carson spouts off having in his Pokédex is the exact number I have in my Pearl one, which I'm still trying to complete to this day. All the trainers take names and Pokémon from my various save files, actually, so it's both weird and really neat to try and make characters out of them.

Enjoy!


	6. Johto II

**VI. Johto II**

Ben walked into the seedy, dimly-lit venue that he called the Battle Bar. At age seventeen, that's all he knew it as; during the night, it became something else depending on the day, but during normal hours it was just a place to find battles or a drink, and oftentimes information. He knew they had openings all over Johto in most of the major cities, and he was a frequenter of most of them whenever he needed to track down a trainer he'd heard about. His parents would be mortified, but that wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.

The place was nearly identical to the one in Ecruteak City that he was last at, and the one in Olivine City before that, to the point where they started to blur together. They all featured a small room with booths lining the edges, a bar which was currently serving café-style food and drink, but would no doubt change its menu at night. At the back end opposite the entrance, and two doors flanking it that, from experience, led to a small battle arena and the bathrooms, respectively, and the floor had folding tables and chairs laid out to create more space. Ben had his suspicions that those were tucked away elsewhere at night for other activities, and he did admire their flexibility in the name of making money, if nothing else. He scanned the bar looking for his usual contact, a balding man in his forties who he knew as Tobias. He always thought that the two of them looked like an odd pair every time they sat down like this, a grizzled, older-than-his-years man with seemingly permanent gray stubble who wore baseball caps and sweatshirts every day paired with a teenage, clean-shaven pretty boy. It would've made for many a bizarre date if Tobias were his type, and not over twice his age. The actual reason he was meeting him was because Tobias had made a living looking for and mentoring strong trainers, and even though he refused to take Ben on, he would occasionally make time to point him in the direction of strong trainers or help find people he was looking for, which was why he was here today. He slipped into the seat across from him, and Tobias looked up from his coffee and waited for him to start, as usual. Despite the fact that he always gave Tobias what he needed over the Pokégear in advance, Tobias still liked to hear it in person.

"I'm looking for a girl," he started, and Tobias raised his eyebrows.

"Never would've thought that was your type." He simply said, and Ben had to resist the urge to put his head in his hands. Open mouth, insert foot indeed. One day, he'd learn to phrase himself so he didn't constantly end up in pits like this one.

"No, not like that! She ran away from a battle and I'm looking for a rematch!" He practically spat out. Tobias looked like he had something to say to this, but decided against it and motioned for him to continue.

"So I was in Cherrygrove City, right? And this girl comes out of the Poké Mart looking like she lives in a forest or something or just doesn't go into town often shows up. And you know, that's interesting, since it's different, right?" He paused, waiting for Tobias to interject. After a few more seconds of silence, Ben launched right back into it. "Yeah, I guess that wasn't enough. But I battled her, and instead of accepting it, she tried to threaten me out of it…"

He trailed off as Tobias held up a hand, the signal that he'd gone on too long again. "I haven't finished my coffee yet, so just get to the important part."

"Alright, alright. Brown travelling clothes that look possibly handmade, amber eyes, really strong Kingler. Strong enough to hold the big claw off the ground, which is really strong. Have you seen the size of those things?"

Tobias nodded. "That wasn't a lot to go off of when you told me over the phone. But lucky for you, the population of forest-dwelling hermits with well-trained Kinglers is quite small in this area."

Ben smiled slightly, knowing this was as close as the man sitting across from him got to a joke. Then the rest of the sentence caught up to him. "Wait, forest-dwelling?"

"Apparently." was the response, before Tobias drained the rest of his coffee. Ben was instantly suspicious, as Tobias usually wasn't this good at tracking down people that weren't his clients or part of his battling circuit.

"How do you know this?" Ben prodded. He wasn't expecting to get an answer, and watched the older man for almost a minute before he sighed and shook his head.

"I met someone with that description once, at Mt. Silver." He begun, slowly.

Wait, Mt. Silver?

"It was probably over two years ago now, you know. But as a talent scout of sorts, I get alerted sometimes when a new trainer enters Mt. Silver. As you know, it's both restricted to those with a large number of badges and a recommendation from one of the Elite Four to get in."

He said this without any further intention, but it still felt like a slap in the face. Ben bowed his head to briefly try and compose himself. Tobias either didn't notice or didn't comment and went right along.

"So I hear about this apparently incredibly strong trainer who apparently managed to get eight badges and was verified to defeat Lance, then just walked away from it all. Sounds a lot like that man on the mountain, now that I think about it, but it was her."

Ben was stunned by this news. She beat _Lance_? The Champion? "Wait, did she beat Lance in an official battle?"

Tobias shrugged. "I don't have access to anyone's Hall of Fame data. But the fact that she was in Mt. Silver when I met her means she at least managed to impress Lance or someone up there. Anyways, I was at Mt. Silver to try and sign her on, since anyone good enough to get into Mt. Silver is at least worth looking at. So I went up there and found this woman probably not much older than you, and I tried to recruit her."

Ben nodded, already hooked. She'd put up a very tough fight despite the massive type disadvantage her Kingler faced, and Ben really wanted to see what her other Pokémon were capable of.

But why had she run away? Why had he had to go through Tobias just to find her? His mind's eye opened and the woman was laughing maniacally at the lengths he'd gone to, taunting him over and over from the mountain that she'd apparently made it to while he hadn't. Then, something occurred to him.

"Wait a minute. Two years ago?" He asked, holding up a hand.

"Yeah. Probably a few days after the new year, too." Tobias answered. "Why?"

"The man on the mountain was defeated eight days into the new year that year before disappearing, according to a journal kept on the Pokégear they found there. Was there anyone else who got into Mt. Silver during that time?"

"No, none I got a call for. Anyway, I went to talk to her and…"

And just like that, he was back on the mountain he'd never see the top of, with the mountain man he'd come to idolize and this girl who'd taken it away from him staring him down from the top. He was trying to climb it, but every time he was buried under the snow, as the girl and the mountain man laughed at him mercilessly. He shivered, his nightmare tormenting him even now in this moment of good news.

But if Tobias could tell him where this girl was, then he could free himself, right?

"-So I asked for a battle, and she refused. So I observed her fighting wild Pokémon with a Nidoqueen, and after I gave her my card, I left. She probably threw it away, that card."

Shoot. He'd fallen into a daydream and missed the story. "Well, you mentioned a forest earlier. What was that about?"

He paused, as usual. "Ah, yes. She apparently lives in the Ilex forest somewhere and comes down to Azalea town every few months for supplies. So that's probably where you'll find her, if you want to look."

Ben practically jumped up from the booth at this news. "Thank you! This means so much!" He practically shouted, causing Tobias to sigh before waving him off. As Ben was almost to the door, he heard Tobias call out to him and turned around.

"Look, if she doesn't want to battle, don't push her. There's this sickness going around, remember."

And after acknowledging it and thanking him again, Ben left, calling out Pidgeot to fly him to Azalea Town right away. If he couldn't fulfill the dream he'd been working towards since he was 13, he'd beat whoever stole it from him and take that as a prize.

"Man, I knew there was a lot of forest in this forest, but how much forest _is_ there?" Ben said to nobody in particular. According to the clock on his Pokégear, he'd been looking for at least four hours and had spent most of that so far off the beaten path he couldn't help but wonder if he was the first human to ever step foot there. And honestly, while the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, he was starting to get frustrated.

"Who decides to live in a forest in today's day and age, anyways?" He grumbled, pushing away a tree branch. He didn't mind camping out when he was travelling, but usually preferred to stay within city limits to find strong trainers passing through. The next thing he saw stunned him slightly.

An old, gnarled, seemingly dead tree in a clearing. Nothing special in and of itself, but it was… decorated in some way. Each of the lower branches of the tree had something on it, slowly arcing higher, and while the top was bare, there was still possibly 50 or more objects on it. At first glance, Ben saw a Choice Scarf, an EXP Share, a Sharp Beak, and a few plates on or tied to the branches. He was about to move to investigate further when he saw something large and orange move out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw a very large Kingler advancing at him, snapping both claws menacingly.

"Oh, hi there… your trainer isn't around, is she? I just want to ba-woah!" Ben recoiled in fear, throwing his hands over his face as Kingler charged, locking its big claw around one of the trees behind Ben. He was effectively trapped between the tree and Kingler, as any sort of movement would probably get him crushed. "Hey! I don't want to harm you!"

Kingler glared at him menacingly, causing him to shut up. He looked up and saw the girl, with her back to him, and then realized he'd walked in on her home. There was a small fire pit in the centre of the clearing, a few berry pots that hadn't been moved in so long they had moss connecting them to the ground, and a small lean-to at the opposite end. Clearly, she didn't want visitors, and the campsite was mostly inconspicuous except for the tree. If he hadn't been explicitly looking for her, he probably wouldn't have ever stumbled across this place. Eventually, the girl turned around, and Ben noticed a layer of brown cloth covering her eyes.

"Leave." She said, in the same emotionless way she'd used when directing Kingler. "I know who you are, and the answer is no."

"Oh come on!" He complained. Sure, he'd chosen to come out here, but he'd just spent four hours wandering through a forest aimlessly just to find this place, and he was not going home empty-handed. Especially not now that she'd even gone so far as to blindfold herself to avoid the eye contact rule. "I come all the way out here, and you're just going to threaten me and turn me around? Well, I'm not leaving without a battle!"

He was assuming she was staring where he was, as she hadn't moved since she turned around. Despite the blindfold, he slowly felt himself growing more uncomfortable. "What?"

"...I could kill you now." She said, and Ben felt the blood drain from his face. "In this situation, you are in no place to demand anything more than your life be spared."

This was true, Kingler's claw could probably break his spine right now. But would she really go through with that? Murder happened a lot, but Pokémon-assisted murder was still rare in the world, due to most trainers still valuing their Pokémon more than that. Did this girl, who beat the man on the mountain, really not care this much?

"What's up with you, anyways? You're a tough trainer, that much is obvious. Why try to kill me rather than just fight me and have it all be over?" He asked. He couldn't tell if this gave the girl pause or not, as she was still seemingly staring at him intensely.

"...there are things I value more than battling. Like not having teenagers intrude my home and ask for a battle, for one." She said. Ben couldn't tell if this was humour or not, as her tone hadn't changed since she started talking. Hopefully it was, that might mean she was warming up to this.

"Well, come on! If we battle, I'll leave. You beat the strongest trainer in the region, surely you could make it easy, right?" He asked. She seemed to stiffen slightly, but it didn't make much of a difference in her overall stance. "What, did you not want that information to be dropped?"

"...how do you know this?" She asked. She raised her cane, complete with another smoke ball, and pointed the end at him. "Tell me. And tell me why it matters."

Okay, now there was a definite edge to her voice. Could he use this to his advantage? "Look. Back when I was 13 and just this weird kid travelling alone, he beat the Pokémon league and didn't take the title. Do you know how crazy that sounds? Some kid from Kanto had the option to change the world, and left. Then he goes through Johto, gets eight more badges, and goes to sit at the top of Mt. Silver, beating everyone who challenges him up to you. Who wouldn't care?"

"Me." She said.

"What? You don't care? But you made history!" He yelled, completely dumbstruck.

"It was one trainer, and one more regret. May you leave now?" She asked.

 _Yeah, right… I'm not leaving without that fight, and the fact that you don't care makes me think I should make you. You defeated possibly the best trainer in the world! Why won't you battle me?_

"Look. I'll make you a deal." He said, deciding to run with whatever came next. "You battle me on Mt. Silver, and I don't tell the nearest news outlet the location of the woman who beat the man on the mountain. You probably don't catch the news much, but they're still looking…"

Huh, that was better than he expected. His sixteen badges should be enough to get him in, and she'd already been in there. And if she refused, he could just follow through on what he said. For her part, she hadn't moved at all. Ben could slowly feel his breathing getting faster the longer she held that pose, as the sheer intensity of her and Kingler's stare was hard to not buckle under, even blindfolded. He counted almost two minutes pass before she lowered her staff.

"What are you thinking?" He asked, somewhat nervously.

"I'm thinking…" She responded, still unmoving. "That it would be much easier to kill you right here. But I would not put Kingler through that now."

Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, Kingler lowered its claw and Ben felt himself let out a breath. He'd been a bit persistent with other trainers before, but he'd never almost been killed by it. Just who was this girl, anyways?

"Well. Let's get going." She said, her tone finally showing some emotion - annoyance. She reached up and undid the blindfold, revealing her piercing amber eyes. She had the face of someone maybe in their early twenties, but a distinct hardness and bitterness that aged her at least ten years. She had this presence that you could feel like a wall riding up against you, one that screamed _back off_. Whoever she was, Ben couldn't wait to get that battle. And she'd agreed to go to Mt. Silver for the battle, so maybe he'd finally be able to get some respite.

He was brought back to his senses by the girl's cane slamming into his foot as she left the clearing, not saying a word.

 **Notes:**

This chapter was awful to write for a variety of reasons, and I don't blame you if you didn't like it. the lack of description really hurts it, but this is basically a first-person story, and I always felt like the average person doesn't vividly describe everything in their head, right? Regardless, I tried to do the best I could, but I'm still not happy with it and the only reason I'm publishing like this is I doubt I ever will be.

Anyways, for a more lighter notes, I was originally going to call Tobias Clyde until I realized that there was already a character called Clyde, the gym guide! So he became Tobias for no discernible reason, but at least he has a name. I'm starting to feel kind of out of my depth here, this is way different from writing songs, but I'm going to keep at it.

Enjoy!


	7. Sinnoh III

**VII. Sinnoh III**

The mountain was still, as though all life ad stopped. The wind whipped past gently, but it sounded far away, as if even nature didn't want to disturb this place. Not a single Pokemon called it home, and Carson honestly couldn't blame them. The Spear Pillar was sacred ground, after all, and it wouldn't surprise him if nobody had been up here since he and Jileya ended up here six years ago.

It looked about the same as he remembered it, as if the world itself were conspiring to keep this place alive to the end of time. What he thought had once been a pantheon had long ago lost its shape, the roof had crumbled to dust well before he got here, and the pillars that gave the area its name were the last vestiges.

Supposedly, this place was the origin point of Sinnoh, with the entire region spreading from it. While he wasn't sure he believed that, he'd seen firsthand that this place connected to the two legendary Pokemon of Time and Space, when Cyrus had brought them to this world right before his eyes. He reached up to rake a hand through his hair at the thought of those two Pokemon - only to remember he'd got it cut the day he left, shortening it back to just barely covering his ears. He liked it that way, but long hair offered its comforts too. It just didn't look good with his favourite red newsboy hat, which is why he ditched it.

He glanced around the pillar. Five days ago, he'd left Jileya's house to climb here as fast as he could, just to possibly check if the two deities had returned and were causing this. There was a slightly personal motivation in this adventure as well, as if he could find one of them and study it…

"No." He said aloud. While studying them would be phenomenal and a huge help to Professor Rowan's research, he still remembered the last encounter. They were awe-inspiring, monumental beasts with powers equal to those of a god, and every text he had ever encountered that spoke of them said the same thing:

They are not to be crossed, trifled with, or otherwise angered.

Granted, that could mean any number of things, but he figured study counted, especially a more extensive one, and he enjoyed living enough to mentally table the idea as he went on with his search. He began to slowly walk around the pillars, calling up six-year-old memories of what it had looked like the last time deities had been called to the world.

He remembered two crystals, Dusky Pink and Deep Blue, surrounded by a red chain, created by an evil man in blue and gray. There had been a blinding light as the crystals and the chain shattered, and then both vanished, and it had failed, meaning he had never gotten to see their true forms. While he suspected it was man-made and that that wasn't how they normally made themselves known, it was all he had to work with and likely more than entire generations got to know.

Crystals and chains aside, his best guess was some sort of weird dimensional hole or portal of some description… not that he knew what those looked like. His comic books as a kid conjured up images of purple and green holes stretched at the tips that practically belched whatever it was the heroes were looking for or villains to fight them. Once again, he was slightly sure that was faked.

Slowly, careful not to disturb anything, he stalked around the crumbling debris, looking for something, anything that might indicate that something had happened in the six years since he'd last been here. It was eerie, feeling almost like he'd stepped back in time instead of simply climbing a mountain. He half-expected to hear the younger voices of Jileya and Barry interspersed with the wind at any moment.

After several minutes of searching, he had found nothing in either the past or the present that would be of help, and made to leave, grumbling a little. It had taken him five days from Jubilife City traveling nonstop thanks to the ban on flying to bypass the area gates Cynthia had installed, and he wasn't looking forward to repeating that. Not that he disagreed with the policy due to what was happening, but it did make travelling while under a time limit more annoying. He was grateful he'd gotten eight badges a long time ago, and that he could travel anywhere without either a guide or being interrupted because of it. Others weren't so lucky.

Personally, he thought the need for a guide in certain areas was a little silly, especially due to the fact that in extreme cases he'd heard tale of guides staying with the trainer for their entire journey or doing all the battling for an afflicted trainer. While he was only twenty years old at the moment and, all things considered, fairly young, he did notice the changes to how young trainers tackled their journey while he was out in the field, with more reliance on technology, guides, and otherwise either staying as safe as possible or doing it as quickly as possible. Every time he saw a kid like that, his heart went out to them, as it seemed like something had been truly lost in the change of generations. But, not being an old man yet, he still had a while before he could really voice those opinions.

He pulled out his Poké Ball containing Staraptor and stared at it forlornly. The poor bird Pokémon had been spending more time in a Poké ball than he was accustomed to, and Carson felt guilty.

"I'm sorry, Starry, I'll make sure you get a workout once we're at Jilly's place again, okay?" He pleaded, and he could practically hear his friend sigh through the Poké Ball. He did plan to make one more stop beforehand, however, since Jileya would still be in Kalos for another week. He'd planned to check out the Canalave Library, the location of possible answers for anything lore-related and one of his more frequent haunts if he was ever in the field that far west. It was also a week's trek on foot, meaning if he left now, he'd have at most a few hours to study until Jileya came back…

He grumbled, cursing his lack of being able to lawfully fly, and started back down the steps, leaving the Spear Pillar isolated in time and space once again.

 **Notes:**

If it wasn't apparent, I still haven't figured out how long a week is. This time, I bring you a chapter that felt like filler to write but at least sort of advances the plot. Mostly, it develops Carson as a character, which is cool because I like him. It's a bit like the glut from 2-4, but it's at least a little more relevant.

Starry is the nickname of an actual Staraptor I actually had in my pearl file. I'm not going to bother nicknaming every Pokémon with their original names because the ones I made as a kid are pretty laughable, but Starry's at least sorta reasonable. Coming up with characters from my old save files is also a legitimately fun experience and good motivation whenever I hit writer's block.

Enjoy! Maybe next time we'll meet another new character, hm?


	8. Kanto I

**VIII. Kanto I**

Water cascaded down the steps of the Pokémon Mansion, taking with it the fainted bodies of several Koffing and Muk. At the top of the stairs stood a girl in a blue tank top, with a red skirt that extended below her knees and matching light blue boots. A massive sunhat covered her head, and she held a Poké Ball in her hand, breathing heavily.

"Okay… three more levels…" She said, attempting to get her heartbeat under control. Her breath rang in her ears and her hands were shaking. From inside the Poké Ball, her Seaking looked at her nervously. She tried to run her hand through her hair to calm herself down, only to feel nothing there. Laughing ruefully, she straightened herself up and put her arm down. This was how she trained, presenting herself as defenceless and launching herself into it as quickly as possible. She couldn't afford it any other way anymore.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a pink blob moving towards her. Ditto. Almost instantly, she threw Seaking's Poké Ball at it.

"Seaking, Waterfall!" She yelled, echoing through the abandoned space. Instantly, Seaking coated itself in water and charged towards the Ditto, knocking it out instantly. "Good."

She quickly returned Seaking before the fish Pokémon could suffer the effects of being out of water, and resumed waiting. She swayed on her feet slightly, and closed her eyes. By her Pokénav, she hadn't slept for at least 12 hours, and that had died several hours ago. Maybe she should just call it a night…

She heard something. More importantly, she _smelled_ something. She opened her eyes, and saw a Koffing looming right in her face. Before she could react, the Koffing started expanding, a light glowing out of the holes in its gaseous body.

Oh no.

Quickly, she threw out the Poké Ball in her hand, summoning a confused and terrified Seaking, who went for a Waterfall but was nowhere near fast enough. She screamed, putting her hands over her head and stepping back.

"Butterfree! Help us out, please!"

The Koffing exploded, and the girl looked up, seeing Seaking flopping on the floor, but still moving. She called it back to her Poké Ball instantly and looked at her savior, who was repeatedly apologizing to his Pokémon for throwing her into a powerful attack like that. Even bent over slightly, he towered above her, a gentle giant with neat blonde hair extending down past his ears and almost completely covering an emerald eye on the right. He wore a blue shirt with sleeves coming down to his elbows and a black, long-sleeved undershirt under it. His other, visible, azure eye was rife with worry, which he had now turned to her.

"Are you alright, Kayla?" He asked. "And what happened to your hair?"

Kayla reached for her hat and took it off, revealing a pixie cut that looked like it had been done by a Scyther. "I cut it off. After… after the eighth gym. I needed to do something to remember them, so I did this. I bought the sunhat afterwards. How did you know where I was, Cas?"

The boy called Cas sighed. "Your hair was so pretty... and you stopped messaging me a few hours ago, and with a weakened team I thought something was wrong, so I came here from the Sevii Islands as soon as I could. It looks like I got here just in time, yeah?"

Despite everything, Kayla smiled. "Yeah. Thanks. What were you doing in the Sevii Islands, anyways?"

"Training." He simply said. The two of them had been travelling together for seven years and he was still the same soft-spoken person of few words. Sometimes she wondered if she was more aggressive in groups due to years of having to talk for two.

"Funny, so am I. Mine seemed remarkably more life-threatening, and I didn't even go outside." Kayla said, trying to force some humour into the situation. Neither of them laughed.

"You… you do have other Pokémon, right?" Cas asked. The way he said it, it sounded more like _I didn't almost watch you die, right?_

"Yeah. I've got Kadabra and Tangela with me, too. Everyone else is gone." Her voice broke over the last word, but she didn't cry. She was a firecracker before this, and that still lingered. Maybe she'd start burning again one day, but right now she needed to hold onto something, and sadness would do.

Cas hadn't moved since he'd called out Butterfree, and was now just looking at her. She didn't see pity or any sort of emotion in his face, which she'd expected. "Would you like me to take you home?"

"I'm not going home until my hair grows back. Mom's going to kill me." This made him crack a slight smile, and she knew that he was relieved even if he didn't outwardly show it much. "And your league challenge is in a week, do you really think I'd miss that?"

"If you're going to be alright… then no." Cas said.

"Besides," Kayla started. "Who's going to help you if there's a crowd?"

That got a genuine smile out of him. "Come on, it shouldn't take us more than five days to get there if we leave now."

She fixed her sunhat on her head and the two walked out of the mansion, careful not to slip on the stairs.

 **Notes:**

Aaaaand we're back! I'm going to blame a combination of school, writer's block, and lack of motivation for why this took a month. In this chapter, we meet two of the last major characters who haven't shown up yet, and one of them almost gets seriously injured. I hope I'm writing this pandemic thing seriously enough, I'm not sure if I am or not. Regardless, this is the last pure introductory chapter in the story, so every new chapter is going to develop the plot or characters from here on out.

Enjoy!


	9. Kalos I

**IX. Kalos I**

Jileya stepped off the ferry in Coumarine Town, holding a hand against her eyes to shield them from new newfound sun. The boat trip to Kalos from Sinnoh was only four days, but she had become used to the artificial light again. Beautifly fluttered on her head, snapping her out of it. She had a few jobs to do while she was here, and all of them relied on finding a specific person.

She walked away from the flow of traffic, stopping by the lighthouse to look around. Tall Blonde girls didn't seem to be in short supply in Kalos, and while she could probably pick Aria out of the sea of people a few years ago, they hadn't been able to meet in person for nearly a year. She let her thoughts drift into the past, thinking about her friendship with Aria.

She had been travelling with Carson since they set out, and four years later they had met Aria near Celestic Town. She had travelled there from Hoenn to participate in contests, something that had largely become too expensive for her own region to hold. Even then, Hoenn was starting to sink. She and Carson had met her when her Kirlia accidentally attacked them during training, and after that was cleared up they bonded. Aria won the Celestic contest that year with her Kirlia and Dratini, and for the next eight months they had travelled together, Carson approaching his dream and Aria approaching hers.

That all changed when her parents died, and Aria went back to Hoenn to try and take care of her younger brother. Once she became an adult, she moved to Kalos to try and save up for her own place, to take her brother out of Hoenn. That was a year ago, and Jileya knew that from then, she began to work two jobs and a modelling gig while sharing an apartment with two other girls. And after that, she didn't know much. The combination of timezones and Aria's work schedule meant the two talked far less now, but at least Aria had stable internet now.

"Jilly!" Someone yelled. Jileya turned and saw her: a tall girl with mid-length blonde hair running towards her. She was dressed in a black sleeveless halter top that bared her stomach and jean shorts, looking like she had just run off of a photoshoot. Knowing her, she probably had. Aria enveloped her in a quick hug before looking at her, and Jileya regretted not at least doing something with her hair. She still looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, which was partially true.

"Sorry, I just got off a shoot. I shouldn't have gone, but it was going to pay well and it's about the time of the month where I need to send money back to Valen." She apologized, although they both knew it was unneeded. "How've you been?"

"How do I look?" Jileya said. "Because I feel dead on my feet."

"Good, because you look dead on your feet. Are you even sleeping?"

"A little. Global crises don't sleep, and I'm a Professor's Assistant, so I have to do my part."

Aria nodded. "Have you talked to Carson since you got on the boat?"

"No."

"Can't you two go a few days without fighting anymore?" She sounded resigned, as they'd had this conversation many times before. "I mean, what happened?"

"Never mind. Come on, I want to meet your friends." Jileya deflected. Aria knew full well what happened. Aria let it slide and started pulling her towards the train. Kalos had also implimented flying restrictions, but as far as she knew none of them had Pokémon that could fly anyways.

Once they were on the train, Aria began talking again. "So, what brings you out here? I'm glad to have you, but you've been so busy doing research that I'm surprised you took time off."

"Well, I'm here for research, sort of. Nobody I've talked to that's afflicted is actually willing to be studied by Professor Rowan's team. A lot of people are even treating it like a game, seeing how far they can get with as few casualties as possible. Isn't that awful? People and Pokémon are dying from this, and some people think it's fun."

Aria nodded. "It's horrible. One of my coworkers had a brother who did that, and he died early onto his journey because of it. Not that there's any gyms back home anymore, but I've told Valen he can't battle unless it's absolutely required there. Just go to school and come back, and hopefully he doesn't get jumped."/span/p

"Can't you bring him over yet?" Jileya asked.

"I wish, but so many people are moving to Kalos and Unova now that I can't find anywhere to live I can afford that could also fit him. I'm sharing a one-bedroom with two other people right now, and even then because it's in Lumiose city it takes the three of us to pay for everything. Even the small towns are really expensive because they're in Kalos. It's insane, but it's the best place in the world to make opportunities happen, so here I am." Aria sighed. Jileya sympathized, silently grateful that her own salary could cover an apartment in the less-coveted but still decently busy Jubilife city. "I want him to have a future that doesn't include making sure the house hasn't been robbed every time he leaves it."

Before Jileya could respond, the train stopped, and she and Aria rushed to stand up as they got swept out by the traffic.

Shortly after, Aria had led Jileya to a small apartment building near the outside of the circular city. It was small, probably only twelve floors or so, but looked well-maintained, with a No Vacancy sign on the window. Aria's apartment was on the fifth floor, behind a door called 5C, and opened it.

Instantly, Jileya felt a wave of guilt. The apartment was tiny, with a kitchen to the left of the door and a bathroom to the right. The rest of the space was taken up by a small living room, with a couch, a TV, a desk/dresser, and a bookcase in it. There was a small deck outside and another room that was presumably a bedroom behind another door. Her own apartment was much bigger than this, and she wasn't sharing it with two other people. There was a darker-skinned girl with brown pigtails and a pink shirt doing her makeup in a hand mirror on the couch, and noises from the bathroom suggested someone was showering. The girl doing her makeup jumped up once Aria and Jileya entered.

"Hey! Guess who got a date tonight?" She exclaimed.

"No. Way. He's in town?" Aria gasped. Shauna nodded, and Jileya already felt lost.

"Yeah! His troupe's doing a show in Laverre City and he's here today!" Shauna said, giggling a little. She turned to look at Jileya, and Jileya noticed they were roughly the same height. "Hey, you're Jileya, right?"

Jileya was relieved at the subject shift, but didn't show it. "Yeah, what's your name?"

"I'm Shauna. Aria's told me a lot about you. It's really chaotic in here, but that's what living like this is like. It's a lot of fun, really."

"Nice to meet you, Shauna." Jileya relaxed a bit. The three of them walked towards the living room, where Aria pulled a chair out from the kitchen and sat down on it. Shauna went back to her makeup, and the three of them talked about whatever came to mind. Eventually, the bathroom door opened and another girl, with blonde hair even longer than Aria's and blue eyes stepped out. Despite having clearly just showered, she was fully dressed, and smiled when she saw the scene in the living room.

"I thought I heard something. Jileya, right? I'm Serena." The girl said, extending a hand, which Jileya took. After some awkward conversation, she picked up a hairbrush and sat down on the floor to start working on it, and the conversation flowed freely again, about Jileya's work, Shauna's night, and more. Eventually, Aria's Pokégear rang, and she picked it up and swore.

"Right, I said I'd cover for someone tonight since they're sick and I needed the money. It's only a five-hour shift, so I'll be back around dinner. Sorry, Jilly, and good luck out there, Shauna! Bye!"

"And just like that, she was gone. Jileya turned to the other two./span/p

"She's eating and sleeping, right?"

Shauna shrugged. "She works a lot of night shifts, but there's always food missing from the fridge when we wake up if she isn't here. So I think so?"

"She's got a lot on her plate." Serena said, and Jileya nodded. "What's your plan for tomorrow, for your research?"

And just like that, the conversation started up again as Jileya went through the ideas she had and her research. Tomorrow she had to be professional, but today she could just be her.

 **Notes:**

I am 100% blaming Smash Ultimate for this taking forever. That game's amazing and completely addicting. We're still not done with characters, but not all of the characters introduced so far are actually important to the overall plot. They're all important in building the main characters or the world, though.

Enjoy!


End file.
